Top 10 Greatest Anti- First World War Films and TV Shows
Blackadder, All Quiet on the Western Front and Oh! What a Lovely War top Michael Gove hitlist
Education secretary Michael Gove caused an outcry by claiming that perceptions of war have been distorted by dramatised accounts of conflict, while virtuous ideas like patriotism and courage have been damaged.
"Our understanding of the war has been overlaid by misunderstandings and misrepresentations which reflect an at best ambiguous attitude to this country and at worst an unhappy compulsion on the part of some to denigrate virtues such as patriotism, honour and courage," he said in the Daily Mail.
Gove was showing concern that schools were teaching history "through the fictional prisms of drama" and subsequently feeding pupils "leftwing myths" about the 1914-18 war.
Below we have compiled a list of the top 10 anti-war "prisms of drama" to which Gove may be referring:
1. Blackadder (1983)
Rowan Atkinson's infamous depiction of anti-hero Edmund Blackadder seems to have provoked Gove's outburst. He brandied the series "very silly" in his article.
2. Oh! What a Lovely War (1930)
Richard Attenborough directs this musical film using popular songs at the time to depict the events of The Great War.
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Lewis Milestone directs this adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's classic German novel, which focuses on the harrowing life of German soldier, Paul Bäumer.
5. Paths of Glory (1957)
Set in the French trenches, this American anti–war film stars Kirk Douglas as a commanding officer who refuses to carry out a suicidal attack.
6. The Monocled Mutineer (1986)
This four part British series tells the story dramatises the life of Percy Toplis, an army deserter.
7. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
This silent epic uses the First World War as the dramatic setting for an illicit love story.
8. What Price Glory? (1952)
Based on the1924 Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stalling, this comedy centres on the rivalry between two US Marines.
9. An Accidental Soldier (2013)
This Australian television film depicts the story of an unlikely 35-year-old baker who is shamed by his rural town into fighting on the Western Front.
10. The Trench (1999)
Daniel Craig stars in William Boyd's film detailing the lead up to the Battle of Somme in 1916.
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